LE MANS

Survival Of The Fittest

Endurance races like Le Mans are the most gruelling punishment that you can put a car through. They're also the ultimate R&D laboratories. Testing in the world's most intense endurance races lets us continually improve our products.

Le Mans: The Ultimate Endurance Race

The 24 Hours of Le Mans is an iconic and unbelievable race, held since 1923 in Le Mans, France.

That makes it the oldest endurance race in existence.
It's one of the most prestigious races in the world and has inspired the creation of many other races, popularising the 24-hour format.

Over its storied history, Le Mans has been host to some of motorsport’s most famous moments. It's also an important event for MICHELIN.
Our tyres won the very first edition of the race in 1923, and this year we're going after our 18th consecutive success since 1998.

A Year-Round Focus

A 24-hour race is huge and taxing, but for MICHELIN it's a year-long affair.

The circuit is fast and over 13 kilometres long, made up of over 85% roads that are open to the public the rest of the year. The conditions and levels of grip are inconsistent, testing the versatility and resilience of car and tyre technology. The variable weather also makes for any number of challenges. It can go from wet to hot and dry very quickly. Tyres need to combine incredible performance, coping with speeds of over 300 km/h, variable conditions and much more. All this makes winning at Le Mans monumentally difficult, and the perfect challenge to put our MICHELIN Total Performance philosophy to the test. If our tyres can handle Le Mans, they can handle just about anything.

“As soon as the cars cross the finish line, we analyse the tyres and start thinking about the improvements we can make for the following year’s race.”

- Serge Grisin, from Michelin Motosports

Le Mans 2014 Results

The 2014 race was won by the #2 Audi-Michelin #2 crew.
Fässler, Lotterer and Tréluyer drove the Audi R18 e-tron quattro, the first hybrid car to win in Le Mans. The atmosphere was incredible and the team was ecstatic.

2014

Lotterer/Tréluyer/Fässler

Audi R18 e-tron quattro

2013

Kristensen/McNish/Duval

Audi R18 e-tron quattro

2012

Tréluyer/Fassler/Lotterer

Audi R18 e-tron quattro

2011

Tréluyer/Fassler/Lotterer

Audi R18 TDi

2010

Dumas/Bernhard/Rockenfeller

Audi R15 TDi

2009

Brabham/Gené/Wurz

Peugeot 908 HDi FAP

2008

Capello/Kristensen/McNish

Audi R10 TDi

2007

Biela/Pirro/Werner

Audi R10 TDi

2006

Biela/Pirro/Werner

Audi R10 TDi

2005

Kristensen/Lehto/Werner

Audi R8

2004

Kristensen/Ara/Capello

Audi R8

2003

Kristensen/Capello/Smith

Bentley Speed 8

2002

Biela/Kristensen/Pirro

Audi R8

2001

Biela/Kristensen/Pirro

Audi R8

2000

Biela/Kristensen/Pirro

Audi R8

1999

Winkelhock/Martini/Dalmas

BMW V12 LMR

1998

McNish/Aïello/Ortelli

Porsche 911 GT1

1995

Dalmas/Lehto/Sekiya

McLaren F1 GTR

1993

Brabham/Bouchut/Hélary

Peugeot 905

1992

Warwick/Dalmas/Blundell

Peugeot 905

1989

Mass/Dickens/Reuter

Sauber C9-Mercedes-Benz

1978

Pironi/Jaussaud

Renault-Alpine A442b

1923

Lagache/Léonard

Chenard & Walcker Sport

What Gives Us Our Edge?

MICHELIN Total Performance brings you tyres that go faster and last longer.